


Half a Truth

by Cornerofmadness



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Gen, post episode: s1e18 Scheherazade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23489005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: Malcolm needs to know for certain about Sophie but he can’t tell if his father is being truthful or not.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Half a Truth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkmoore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkmoore/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** Not mine, Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver owns it 
> 
> **Notes:** written for darkmoore in comment_fic for the prompt of Prodigal Son, Malcom Bright, for the first time in forever, he can't tell if his father is lying. The story is open to podcasting/remixing. Just ask.

XXX

_A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.- Alfred Lord Tennyson_

Malcolm nodded to Mr. David as the man ushered him in. He mused, not for the first time, what the man felt like sitting in this room when his father wasn’t shackled up. He often wondered why they even bothered to shackle him up when he visited. He was getting to be almost as regular as Mr. David.

His father turned to him with that smug self-satisfied smile on his face. Malcolm was sure about many things when it came to his father but some things remained a mystery. Was he really as happy as he seemed every time Malcolm showed up? He might never know. Did he really love Malcolm? He’d convinced himself no right up until Gil let slip about how Martin had a massive panic attack at the thought of Watkins kidnapping – and presumably killing – him and had to be sedated. That couldn’t be faked for Gil’s sake. Hell, his father had given up the cabin’s location. That spoke to love. It didn’t matter. He needed to set his own neediness aside. He had a job to do.

“Malcolm, my boy!” His father warbled his usual ebullient greeting. “You’re back sooner than expected.”

Rather than hanging by the door like he always did, he walked up to the line making Mr. David sit up more alert in his chair. His father smiled and met him at the line. “I need to know. How much of what you told Eve was true?”

His father curled his lip, turning his head. “You can do so much better than her, son. She was a hard-looking woman but I’m sure you’ll blame me for that like you do everything else.”

Malcolm ignored the whipped puppy tone. “You said she was beautiful.”

“Of course, I did.” His father’s gaze swiveled back over to him, going icy. “That’s what a father does when his son brings home his lover. But she’s not suited to you. You were better off with Dani.”

At least he didn’t draw her name out like it was a stripper handle this time. “I’m not here to talk about Eve or Dani.”

“You think I lied about Eve’s sister.” His father rolled his eyes and turned his back on Malcolm. He stomped over to his desk and flopped down on his task chair dismissively. 

“I think some of this makes no sense. Wouldn’t be the first time you told half-truths and lies.” Malcolm stalked along the line following his father the best he could without stepping into the danger zone. 

His father propped his chin up on his fist, looking bored. “What parts would that be? You don’t think I can be merciful.”

“No, not in this case. You had her at our _home_. She knew who you were, not just as the Surgeon, but as Martin Whitly. Even if she didn’t know your name, she knew where you lived. You and Watkins took me to that cabin to kill _me_ and you want me to believe you’d let Sophie go just because she had information to trade.”

“Are you still grinding on that? I didn’t kill you, now did I?”

Malcolm slashed his hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter than you backed out. You still had it in your head to murder your own child. You had kidnapped and drugged Sophie. You had her in a trunk in our basement. She could damage you far more than I could have.”

His father let out a bitter chuckle. “There you’re wrong. You hurt me plenty.” He spread his hands to indicate his well-appointed cage. 

Malcolm snorted. “Yes, you’re a bird in a gilded cage, Dr. Whitly. That doesn’t change my point. I was a ten year old child who got lucky that Officer Arroyo listened to me. He very nearly didn’t because who would believe a kid who said someone was dead in the basement after looking around our home? But Sophie would have made for a far more credible witness. It makes no sense you’d let her go.”

His father sighed, propelling himself to his feet. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“No, sir, I’m not.”

His father prowled back to the line in front of Malcolm, and in his eyes Malcolm could see the predator. “Where is she now boy? Did she dump you like your mother did me the moment things got a little rough?”

Malcolm narrowed his eyes. “Mother did the right thing.”

His father grinned, laughing so hard his shoulder shook. “She tossed you the moment she got what she wanted. How’s that feel?”

“I’m not here to talk about Eve. I thought I made that clear,” he replied without any strength to it. How had his father guessed that? The pain of it ached deep in his chest.

“No, you want a one way flow of information.”

“That seems the safest but if you have to know.” Malcolm steeled his jaw. He might as well admit to it. His father was already convinced of it. “Eve’s gone off to follow what you said about her sister disappearing and faking her own death.”

“But you don’t believe me.”

Malcolm cocked his head to the side. He still couldn’t tell if his father was lying. He almost always could so this frightened him. He didn’t know what to do with the idea that Martin Whitly might be able to slip this past him. “I need to know, Dad. Mother’s been out with Endicott, and I need to know if he did the things to Sophie were true. Did she really trade you information about him for her life?”

“She certainly tried.” Oh there was that smug smile again that made Malcolm want to slap it off his face. “Keep your mother away from him, Malcolm. As bad as you think I am, he is worse.”

Of course he was because apparently his mother had the worst taste in men. Maybe it was a good thing most of the men in her social circle had deserted her. God knows what might have happened to him and Ainsley growing up otherwise. “I’m not sure that is possible but I am listening to you . I suppose you could be lying out of jealousy because you know that Mother stopped caring about what happened to you years ago.”

“Now who’s lying to himself.” His father smirked but under it was so much jealousy it flet like a living thing. “Endicott is everything I said and probably more. I didn’t get time to investigate it more thoroughly before your Officer Arroyo came crashing into my life.” He made a face. “For a moment I thought that’s who your mother’s new beau was.”

“It’s never been like that,” Malcolm said, wrinkling his nose as something crystalized for him, something he didn’t come here to get clarity on. Gil’s sudden and intense dislike of Endicott, his bashing on the wealthy set even knowing Malcom was from it and had always been accepting of that, it all made sense with this new filter. He was jealous of Endicott. Oh, that was a wrinkle Malcolm was ill prepared to deal with. 

“But?” his father prompted obvious seeing the gears turning in his head.

“Nothing. Gil and Jackie, his wife, were friends with Mother until she blamed him for me going to Quantico. Not important.” It slowly occurred to him in the years that had gone by with his mother shunning the Arroyos, Jackie had passed and Gil was now a widower and his mother was an attractive woman. Oh boy. Malcolm forced himself back on task. “It still makes no sense for you to let Sophie go on a night you had already left your partner for dead.”

“That was you,” he broke in.

Malcolm took a deep breath that failed to calm him. “On a night you were set to kill me and what? Tell mom I had an accident and cry crocodile tears?”

“I would have cried for life if I had to kill you,” his father huffed, offended.

Malcolm skinned his lips back from his teeth but sadly he actually believed that. “Is she really alive?”

“I said so. She’s alive.”

Damn Malcolm still couldn’t tell. He hated this. “But…”

“This conversation is circling. I’m done, son. I’ve told you the story. You believe it or you don’t. There’s nothing more I can say.” He leaned forward, his tether going taut. “Bring your Eve back here. I’ll tell her again if you want and then…” His eyes sparked and he whispered, “And I’ll show her exactly what I think of her hurting you.”

Those words sliced Malcolm deep, gutting him, leaving behind ice in their wake. “There’s no need for that.”

“A good parent protects their child. No one hurts you when I have something to say about it.” 

The mirth in his father’s eyes made Malcolm’s chest heave and his hand began to shake. His smile grew because the predator in him knew he was the reason Malcolm’s nerves were firing. No one could hurt him as much as his father had, though if he were honest, Eve had come close. She’d used him. She had known to over ninety percernt surety his father had hurt her sister and she had still climbed into his bed. Those wounds would leave scars he wouldn’t be able to cover. 

“Sophie’s alive.”

His father shrugged. “As I said, we’ve exhausted that topic. Maybe you should bring back that delightful Dani next time. Now she was gorgeous and smart. She reads you like a book and knows what you need. I can tell.” He sighed happily. “Never underestimate the importance of sharing interests with your lover, son. You and Dani share a lot of things, don’t you? I’ve often wondered what would have been if you mother had shared-”

Malcolm whipped up his hand. “Don’t!”

His father shrugged. “Just saying.”

Malcolm believed him about that. He didn’t know what to think about Sophie but he definitely knew his father had pictured his mother being his partner in murder. “I should go.”

“Already? Maybe you should go cry on Dani’s shoulder. Some women like having someone to fix.”

“Stop it. Dani’s my friend.” And if she were more, he’d be damned if he told his father. He should never have told him about Eve. He should have known what little he had told his father was enough to clue him in that he was seeing someong. If he and Dani ever took that step – and he’d be lying if he hadn’t pictured it – he’d have to edit everything he told his father. 

“That’s the best way to start.”

Malcolm shook his head. “I have to go. I need to talk this over with someone.”

“Not the delightful Dani.” His father narrowed his eyes to frigid slits. “Gil.” He drew the name out, flat as three day uncorked champagne.

Malcolm froze. He had always kept Gil away from his father. Even as a child he knew it was dangerous. He had told his father far too much in the early days, about having no friends at school, the bullies, Vijay, his first girlfriend but he never said Gil Arroyo was the father he needed and wanted. It had been a mistake for Gil to come here. In trying to save him, Gil had painted an even bigger target on himself. Malcolm had had nightmares for years of his father escaping and killing the people he loved and every time he always got Gil first. He _knew_ if his father could manage it, he’d take Gil out. “I need to talk to my _team_ about Endicott. Goodbye, Dr. Whitly.”

“And do keep your mother away from Endicott,” his father said. “And from Gil. He’s beneath a woman like that.”

“And yet you’re fine with me being with Dani? They’re both cops.”

His father shrugged and wandered back to his desk. “Never said there wasn’t a double standard. Besides, I like her.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Malcolm slipped out the door. The day had been a waste. He didn’t know if his father had let Sophie go or not but he needed to know. He needed help and for once he was going to reach for it. It was time to get other eyes on this problem because if his father was right, his mother was in trouble. He needed to save her and if Endicott was as dangerous as he thought, it wasn’t going to be easy.


End file.
